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A Sample Feature From Aviation News Raising 'Iron Annie'Almost 60 years ago to the day since it was shot down by British AA gunners, the wreck of a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52/3m broke the surface of the clear waters off the Greek island of Leros for its final journey to a mainland museum. Covered in sea life but remarkably intact, the aircraft gave up its secrets to a military salvage team in October 2003. Sqn Ldr Dr George Beldecos of the Hellenic Air Force details the recovery, supported by pictures taken by Sqn Ldr Dimitrios Nanousis.
Above: With steel hawsers attached to the engines and main undercarriage, the Ju 52 was winched to the surface by a floating crane and carefully lowered on to an adjacent barge. Below: Discovered to be surprisingly intact, the Tante Ju - as it was affectionately known in the wartime German forces – was lying on its back in 135ft (41m) of water. The front engine, parts of the main undercarriage and the fin had broken off, but the safe retrieval of the aircraft proved straightforward.
HON OCTOBER 3, 2003, the Hellenic Air Force Underwater Operations Team (KOSYTHE) successfully carried out the salvage of a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52/3m trimotor, from a depth of 41m, two miles off the coast of Alinda Bay, Leros island. The wreck, which lay inverted, was known to the locals from live testimonies vividly describing the scene of the crash in 1943. The aircraft is believed to be Wk.Nr 4046 of TG 2, one of a batch of 80 produced by Junkers, flown by a crew which included Gefr Urbanll, and was shot down on November 13, 1943, by British anti-aircraft fire, during the second day of operations of the Battle of Leros. Before that, it had departed from its base at Athens, flew all the way to the island and dropped paratroopers in an extremely narrow and rocky drop zone. In spite of heavy casualties, the German paratroopers managed to seize the central sector of the island, thus cutting it into two parts. Soon after, the Luftlande Fallschirmjagers advanced to the main road linking Patheni and Agia Marina, thus accomplishing their mission. Given the historical importance of this Ju 52, and the technical difficulties involved in raising it, the Hellenic Air Force undertook a detailed study of all the historical information available to help in the operation. To accomplish the task, several organisations were involved;
Above: Emerging from the sea, the aircraft was quickly sprayed with water and chemicals to prevent further corrosion. Below: Inside the fuselage, the cable on which the paratroops had attached their static lines just before leaving the aircraft on that final mission on November 13, 1943, remained in place, and on the rear fuselage side (right) the feint letters of a unit code could be seen, The latter should have included the prefix 8T before the cross to indicate an aircraft of Transportgeschwader 2, but the letter D can be discerned and may have been the original civil Lufthansa registration.
Preparing the operation During a lengthy briefing, held at a public meeting of the Municipal Council, residents of the island were fully informed by the HAF staff officers about all the phases of the operation. It was also agreed that following the salvage, the wreck would initially remain on the island until a final decision as to its fate was reached. Its eventual destination was likely to be Athine on the mainland where it would join the official Hellenic Air Force museum. The precise position of the wreck was pinpointed by local master diver Constantine Kouvas, resident of Leros, following which the HAF divers videotaped the wreck with a view to determine the optimum method of salvage. Technical drawings of the aircraft and engineers of the HAF Aircraft Industry suggested the strongest points from which the Ju 52 could be safely suspended and lifted. The KOSYTHE diving engineers, who have more than 20 years experience in deep submergance operations, including the successful salvage of RAF Blenheim IV L9044 in 1996 at Rethymnon, Crete, and another one at Prespes Lake in Albania (Blenheim I L1434 of 211 Sqn), decided to attach heavy-duty lifting cables combined with soft protective straps to the strongest points of the airframe, ie, the engine and main undercarriage. Scuba cylinders were used by the divers allowing a maximum of ten minutes working time at 41m. Decompression stops were calculated according to the US Navy Manual on the subject and a HAF medical diver was present throughout the operation. To accomplish the task 70 dives were required by the team which would involve spending a total of 22hr underwater. Invaluable help was offered by a Remote Operations Vehicle (ROV), which allowed the Master Diver to have a real-time observation of the underwater work. Thanks to an exceptionally precise weighing of the aircraft, it was lifted by a floating crane to the platform almost intact, apart from the front engine, which was lifted separately, due to its weight and the fact that during the crash, it had been almost separated from the fuselage. Initial thoughts to secure it back into place were abandoned, since that would dramatically change the whole geometry of the salvage and might have led to an unbalanced distribution of weight. For the rest of this article please see the January 2004 issue. |
